"Here is a very special disc, fascinating and enchanting, seductive and moving, whose listening gives us a new insight on the ancient song."
Res Musica, 28-6-2018PAJARILLOS FUGITIVOS
Spanish songs, away from home
The songs included in this album come from diverse origins, united by the subtle narrative, poetic and musical threads all common to the Spanish repertoire. Pieces of literary traditions from the XVI and XVII centuries are intermingled with others belonging to folkloric ones, all of them taken from non-Spanish sources, and organized into five thematic groups, alternating between each other as if they were refined panels in a Renaissance altarpiece.
Engaging with this music involves entering a singularly vast field, rich with centuries old intersections, borrowings and appropriations between cultures; a natural occurrence, considering the identity of the the old American colonial territories and their population – their complex and mixed nature. Through this program I aim to expose the varied processes of appropriation and transculturation, especially significant to the Latin American colonial
repertoire, informed by the interpretative tradition that I inherited and built between the spheres of the ‘popular’ and the ‘academic’: the comings and goings of tropes, images, melodies, from the mouth of the people to the written page, and from there again, transformed into popular songs, to the musical practices of my referents, my teachers and, finally, to my own. [Jonatan Alvarado]
Jonatan Alvarado is an Argentinian singer, lutenist, director and researcher. He began his musical studies on the modern guitar at his hometown's conservatory of Mercedes. He would go on to pursuing a Degree in Orchestral Conducting and Composition at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, while also beginning private singing lessons in Buenos Aires. During his studies he founded his own baroque orchestra, with which he would go on to give the Argentinian premier of Bach's John's Passion on period instrument, while also performing several works by Charpentier and Scarlatti for the first time in South America. Parallel to this, he developed a successful career as a folk-singer, culminating with his performance at the Cosquin Festival with his group Dos en Trío.
Taking the decision to develop his skills as singer and performer of historical European repertories, he applied for a Bachelor in Early Music singing at the Amsterdam Conservatorium where he was accepted into the class of Xenia Meijer. While advancing in his singing studies he also explored the possibilities of period plucked instruments, taking lessons with the lutenist and theorbo player Fred Jacobs. The combination of singing and lute playing in historically informed performances would lead to a Master's in self-accompanied singing, custom-created for his studies, resulting in a “Cum Laude” for his final examination recital.
During his time as a student he became the cofounder and co-director of the ensemble Seconda Prat!ca, with which he entered the EEEmerging platform, an initiative of the European Commission for Culture to support rising early music talent. The ensemble's high level of performance has led to their releasing of the debut album “Nova Europa” in 2016 with the Ambronay label, which garnered a coup de coeur and became album of choice of France Musique.
He is currently working with Dr. Rebecca Stewart in developing vocal techniques for historical repertoires and connecting early music with oral practices such as the folklore of his own country. This research has led to the recording of his debut solo album ‘Pajarillos Fugitivos’ released by the label Ayros. It includes Spanish guitar songs found in non-spanish sources, aiming to explore its possible connections and transformations within the realm of Latin-American traditional music and poetry.
With his ensemble and as a soloist he has sung and played in some of the most important festivals of his specialty including Ambronay, Sablé, Stockholm and Göttingen. He has collaborated with other musicians and directors such as Sigiswald Kuijken, Richard Egarr, Gabriel Garrido, Adrian van der Spoel and Eduardo Eguez.
Here is a very special disc, fascinating and enchanting, seductive and moving, whose listening gives us a new insight on the ancient song.
Res Musica, 28-6-2018
Very stylized, a very, very attractive CD. Highly recommended.
Stretto, 15-4-2018